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Whiny gay Republican is mad he can’t be in Pride Parade

There are some things that In My Opinion just don’t pair well together.

The first thing that springs to my mind is pineapple on pizza. When I was 16, I was hired on at a pizza buffet restaurant (my first job). One of the more popular pizzas was a simple ham and pineapple pizza (some places call this a Hawaiian Pizza). Nope. None for me then. None for me now. I’m not interested in shaming anyone for their food choices. All I have to say is that I find pineapple to be deeply unappealing in smell, taste, and texture…and I like pizza. So I’m not going to marry the two of them, bc to me, that’s not a marriage made in heaven.

Another thing I’ve found I don’t like together–water, juice, or soda with dessert. Now, I’m a finicky person when it comes to desserts. I like ’em simple. I don’t eat creme brulee, hate pies (yes, I’ve heard all the jokes on that one) and cobblers, and the texture of cheesecake just does not work for me at all. I like cakes, brownies, and cookies (the occasional bread pudding is ok, but the portion size on most I’ve seen is ginormous and the sweetness level is often off the charts). These are my go-to desserts. But I can only drink them with milk. I mean, not literally. If I need something to drink, and there’s no milk, I’ll drink water or juice. Anything other than milk though, just doesn’t taste right.

(image of elephant representing the GOP. Elephant is filled in with rainbow colors to designate queer Republicans such as the Log Cabin Republicans)

There are some pairings that not only seem like a horrible fit on paper, but just make me shake my head in profound befuddlement. I’m speaking here of LGBT Republicans. That should be an oxymoron. You’d think they wouldn’t exist, right? After all, the Republican Party has, for decades, opposed efforts to improve the quality of life for QUILTBAG folks. They fought tooth and nail to prevent same-sex marriage from being legalized. They’ve supported so-called conversion therapy, which is a fancy way of saying “torturing kids into being not gay”. They’ve continually made the reality challenged assertions that gay people cannot be parents and held that children raised by gay people are at a disadvantage (in point of fact, aside from individual physiological issues, we can indeed have children and study after study has found children of same-sex couples are not at a disadvantage). Though much of the harsh rhetoric from the GOP about QUILTBAG folks has become muted over the years, there are still Republicans who make comparisons between gay people and pedophiles (as if there’s a connection between sexuality and pedophilia). Then there are the bathroom bills that states across the nation have considered in the last few years. 16 states have considered such legislation and 15 states have bills pending in legislature. These bills would restrict access to multi-user sex-segregated facilities on the basis of gender as determined at birth. Supporters argue legal protections are needed to prevent predatorial men from wearing women’s clothing and assaulting or molesting girls and women in bathrooms. Such bills are an incredible insult to transgender women. They are not predators. They are women who were assigned the incorrect gender at birth. They are using the bathrooms for the same reason cis women use restrooms. Additionally, there are already laws on the books that criminalize molestation and assault, making these bathroom bills all about one thing: discriminating against transgender women and men.

And all of that? ↑ ↑

Barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the disdain, contempt, and outright hate that the Republican Party has exhibited towards queer people over the last few decades. From discriminatory bathroom bills to preventing gay people from adopting children, the Republican Party has long been among the loudest opponents of queer rights. So yeah, it’s somewhat confounding to me that transgender, lesbian, gay, or bisexual Republicans exist.

On an intellectual level, I know they do. I accept that human brains being what they are, indoctrination into political parties occurring the way it does (often at a young age, in a similar way to indoctrination into religion–i.e. before we develop strong critical thinking skills), and who knows how many cognitive biases and shortcuts converge in queer Republicans. Emotionally, however, it not only boggles my mind, it’s downright insulting. I find insult in the fact that these people are donating time, money, energy, and other resources into aiding a political party that wants to [at best] keep queers as second class citizens. They don’t want us to have rights like being able to marry, adopt kids, own property, or be free from discrimination in public institutions. They don’t want us in scouting organizations or in positions of religious power. They don’t want to see us doing something as innocuous as holding hands in public. In fact, they don’t need to literally say it for it to be true: the Republican Party does not want us to exist.

That fact is lost upon the Gays For Trump, a group of whiny assholes who are mad that Charlotte Pride has denied them entry into the Pride Parade:

A group says ‘Charlotte Pride’ is pushing them out of the Gay Pride Parade because they support President Trump.

“I’m very proud of my country, proud of my president, and was once proud of my community,” said Brian Talbert, who said he’s proud to be gay and proud to be a Trump supporter.

His truck has a Trump-Pence bumper sticker and ‘Not a liberal’ sign on the back window.

“I’m very proud of my vote. I don’t regret my vote. I will vote for Donald Trump again. I’m proud of my president. I don’t think I should be vilified because I’m proud of a U.S. president as an American.”

Talbert, a member of “Gays for Trump, which is not affiliated with the “Gays for Trump” based in Greensboro, NC, said he and a fellow gay Trump supporter sent in an application to Charlotte Pride so they could have a float in this year’s Charlotte Pride Parade.

“It was going to be fun. We wanted to be energetic. We wanted to show that we weren’t the racist, bigot, misogynistic…We wanted to show that we are Americans, love our country and our president. We wanted to be there to celebrate gay pride. Everything fell into place except being able to celebrate who I am,” he said.

Oh. You. Poor. Thing.

Go research the history of how the Republican Party has treated queers. It’s not fucking pretty. They don’t have our backs at all. Never have, and I’m not one to believe they ever will. At least not the GOP as it exists today. Maybe someday when the Party turns around and becomes something decent (sometime around the heat death of the universe). But not now, and not in my lifetime. A spokesperson for Charlotte Pride released this statement, which I’m sure “Gays For Trump” were unhappy about:

“Charlotte Pride reserves the right to decline participation at our events to groups or organizations which do not reflect the mission, vision and values of our organization, as is acknowledged in our parade rules and regulations by all groups at the time of their parade application. In the past, we have made similar decisions to decline participation from other organizations espousing anti-LGBTQ religious or public policy stances.

Based on the above, it really is not that hard to guess why Charlotte Pride would inform Gays For Trump they could not participate in the parade. After all, the current administration is neck deep in anti-queer bigotry. The current Vice President is the same guy who, as Indiana Governor, opposed rights for anyone in our community. The current administration has shown no political will to offer visas to the gay men fleeing Chechnya. No political will to aid refugees from a country who are being tortured by state officials. But I’m sure it’s for some reason other than “we don’t want any more icky gays here”. Let’s see…oh yeah, there’s the ever present threat of a religious liberty bill hanging over our heads. The racist poltroon in the White House didn’t sign the type of discriminatory religious liberty bill that many feared, but with Pence by his side, I can only imagine the threat of such has not vanished. The bigoted buffoon and his team also rescinded protections for transgender students put in place by President Obama.

There is nothing queer friendly about Chitler or his team and in fact, they have displayed deep animus towards us. Talbert and his group can support the POTUS all they want. No one has taken that right away from them. They can, however, take their dishonest whining and shove it:

“For a group of people to claim to want tolerance, acceptance, and give it to every single person you can imagine to give it to, for them to sit back and judge me for exercising my right as an American to choose my leader without judgment is hypocritical,” Talbert said.

Wow.

“You say you support being inclusive, but you’re excluding people who didn’t vote like you. That makes you bad for not including everyone.” This is up there with the classic complaints about being “intolerant of intolerance” (as if people should tolerate bigotry and discrimination).

Talbert seems to have a child’s understanding of why the group was excluded, so I’ll help him out. When you support a far right authoritarian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, rapist like the bigoted buffoon in the Oval Office, and you’re part of one of the groups he and his not so merry band of scuzzbuckets are trampling on the rights of, you damn well should expect to be excluded. You deserve to be. You don’t get to sit there and try to be part of the group when you support a candidate who wishes we did not exist.

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6 thoughts on “Whiny gay Republican is mad he can’t be in Pride Parade”

…for them to sit back and judge me for exercising my right as an American to choose my leader without judgment is hypocritical…

What right is that? Nobody has that right. You can cast your vote as you please, but other people are free to think about that as they please. And to say what they think. And to choose not to be associated with you.

Yeah, from an emotional standpoint, they are confounding. I’m sure there’s a logical, intellectual reason these people side with groups that want to strip their rights from them. Just don’t know what that reason (or reasons) is.

LykeX:
I think it goes back to this perception that many white people have in the US. For so long this is a group that has sat at the top of the pack. Controlling everything. Influencing everything. Society catered to them exclusively. Their desires, wishes, and goals shaped the direction of this country.
As minority groups began stepping out of the shadows, and began demanding access, pay, equality, and liberation, their voices and their presence became louder and harder to ignore. Factor in the rise of social media, where even the most isolated people can find others just like them and form communities of like minded individuals. They can find their voices.

They can also comment on news articles in real time, and express their thoughts via a host of social media platforms. 50 years ago, you had to write to the editor of a magazine and that wasn’t immediate. These days if a think piece goes up and it is poorly done, the writer and the editor are likely to hear responses swiftly.

The voices of the marginalized are growing every day. And in the process, white people are seeing their privileged status whittled away. Many of them are whiny little pissants who refuse to share the world with the “Other”, but they’re going to have to learn.

This reminds me of the promising, young, gay candidate for the political party called the ChristianUnion over here in The Netherlands. His fellow party members love him. They accept him just the way he is.